Search found 452 matches

by hamish
17 Mar 2024, 8:37pm
Forum: For Sale - bits of bikes, etc.
Topic: SOLD Spa Nidd saddle
Replies: 3
Views: 214

Re: Spa Nidd saddle

It has the scrim bonded to the leather. The other one I had broke in fine and it didn’t suffer in the wet as much as my Brooks.

I have moved away from them now as I use cambiums and other saddles as my riding has changed.
by hamish
17 Mar 2024, 5:20pm
Forum: For Sale - bits of bikes, etc.
Topic: SOLD Spa Nidd saddle
Replies: 3
Views: 214

SOLD Spa Nidd saddle

Spar Nidd saddle for sale

New and unused

Brown

Comes with pot of saddle proofer and a spanner.

£35 posted in uk
by hamish
4 Jul 2023, 10:36pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Tyre widths on your touring/bikepacking bikes
Replies: 77
Views: 7289

Re: Tyre widths on your touring/bikepacking bikes

I tour a lot on 2.8 inch tyres. I find them way better off road, they just cruise along on gravel and are great on rocky tracks and singletrack. I would go narrower but not below 2 inch. I prefer touring off the tarmac but when I do ride on the road don’t find them particularly slow and on wet, bumpy and muddy Welsh back lanes they are probably just as fast as much narrower tyres.
by hamish
19 Feb 2022, 8:31pm
Forum: Electrically assisted pedal cycles
Topic: E-bikes cut up bridle paths
Replies: 77
Views: 4838

Re: E-bikes cut up bridle paths

This is one of my local bridleways. Out for a ride on my Longitude …. Not sure ebikes did this :lol:


ImageFBF3CE14-DA70-4757-8FA8-0C32FA1C7AB4 by Hamish Osborn, on Flickr
by hamish
19 Feb 2022, 7:57pm
Forum: Electrically assisted pedal cycles
Topic: E-bikes cut up bridle paths
Replies: 77
Views: 4838

Re: E-bikes cut up bridle paths

I have said that these are my opinions and not facts. But anyway. More opinions from me:

The total all up weight of me and my longitude will be heavier than that of many people on an ebike. The extra few kilos will make negligible difference. The impact of ebikes will be more related to their popularity than their extra weight.

They may lose grip but so do I on my mountain bike… and most impact on bridle ways is not due to lost grip it’s due to cutting up the path. I ride the same bridleways day in day out and I can see my impact. It is noticeable but wouldn’t be much different on an ebike. It is dwarfed by the impact of farmer’s quads and horses. These are bridle ways so you have to accept horses.

I suspect that the difference in impact between ebikes and mountain bikes is probably less than the difference in impact between an old Dawes Galaxy and a mountain bike. An MTB allows me to ride in so many more places than my old tourer. An ebike would hardly allow me to ride in any new places or conditions. Should we ban mountain bikes too?

Infrastructure may be mainly an urban issue, but there are places where it would be of benefit in rural areas. I live in the middle of Gower in a fairly rural area by the way. Well rural by England and Wales standards.

The point is that legal ebikes are legal and aren’t much different to non ebikes. Any increase in their impact is mainly due to the fact that more people are riding due to their popularity. I like the place to myself. I love quiet trails, mountains, islands, etc. but to say that it is a bad thing that people are out enjoying what I enjoy doesn’t seem very nice.
by hamish
19 Feb 2022, 3:38pm
Forum: Electrically assisted pedal cycles
Topic: E-bikes cut up bridle paths
Replies: 77
Views: 4838

Re: E-bikes cut up bridle paths

What is wring with powered bikes being confined to roads,with all other powered vehicles?Being legal s not the same as being moral.Brial paths were developed when the population was 10million and few people other than farmers etc could access them.They were not recreational but a means of transport for commerce etc.Build courses for e-bike users and safeguard our heritage.
The whole point of legal ebikes/pedalecs is that they are restricted in terms of their power and speed so that they blend in with non ebikes. That is why they are specifically not confined to roads. That is the whole point of them and that’s why they can’t cut up the paths more than I can on my mountain bike.

I think that this whole argument is made even more pointless by the fact that bridleways vary from surfaced ‘roads’ through lovely clean singletrack paths to impassable rutted mudfests. Some are well used and others are almost totally forgotten. They are populated in varying proportions by cyclists, walkers and horse riders. The idea that legal use by ebikes causes such a severe impact as to consider it immoral seems to be a bit far fetched to me.

Whilst bridleways have been in existence for many years, the right to cycle on them is a little more recent so I’m not sure that history helps your argument. I suspect that in their heyday, when used almost exclusively for utility transport, they would have been really cut up by horses.

Most people on ebikes don’t want courses, they just want to explore the countryside or go from a to b in exactly the same way that I do on my Genesis Longitude, Surly ECR or Pugsley, all of which leave just as much of a track in the mud as would someone on an ebike.

I say it again. Ebikes are brilliant. Ebikes = more people on bikes, less people in cars, more voices for better cycling provision and infrastructure, a happier healthier population, more cyclists cycling into old age or disability, and so on.

The best thing is that we don’t have to ride them if we don’t want to… but one day many, if not most of us, will.
by hamish
18 Feb 2022, 10:33pm
Forum: Electrically assisted pedal cycles
Topic: E-bikes cut up bridle paths
Replies: 77
Views: 4838

Re: E-bikes cut up bridle paths

Dear me this thread isn’t very constructive or helpful. Loads of option expressed as fact and a failure by some to grasp the current situation in terms of electric assist bikes and the law.

My opinion, that I’m not presenting as fact, is that legal ebikes will continue to feature strongly in bike sales, will be enjoyed by all kinds of people and that they are overwhelmingly a good thing. Whether we like them or not they are here to stay. If they cut up bridle ways it is primarily because of increased numbers not due to increased power and who are we to complain about more people out on bikes.

Illegal ebikes may well be a problem… but they are already illegal.
by hamish
5 Feb 2022, 9:11pm
Forum: Electrically assisted pedal cycles
Topic: What would be different, better or worse for touring?
Replies: 38
Views: 3314

Re: What would be different, better or worse for touring?

I have a Tern GSD

I use it as a car replacement vehicle. It is a brilliant bike and I really enjoy riding it. It takes a huge load and sometimes I ride somewhere nice with my pack raft and go for a paddle. Apart from that I have never used it for touring or day rides. Every ride I use it for has a purpose and ‘pleasure’ rides and touring are done on my other bikes.

I have wondered, through, if I could pack a load of gear in it and use it to get ride in to the hills for walking/mountaineering trips for which I would otherwise use a car. I wouldn’t need a trailer as the bike can carry so much stuff.
by hamish
5 Feb 2022, 8:59pm
Forum: Electrically assisted pedal cycles
Topic: E-bikes cut up bridle paths
Replies: 77
Views: 4838

Re: E-bikes cut up bridle paths

A UK legal pedelec is allowed on bridleways. I guess any resultant increase in impact on the condition of the path would be principally because it encourages more people to venture out for a ride because people like ebikes.

The difference between the impact of an ebike vs a normal bike will be minimal. It would be overridden by the increase in usage.

Any increase in cycling must be a good thing so I guess we will have to just put up with path damage as a collateral damage.

I ride a fat bike off road and at times it makes less mess on soft ground. At other time, when it it’s really muddy, it leaves a wider track. Probably wider than that of an eMTB.

Non legal ebikes are already, umm, illegal. As illegal as motorbikes.
by hamish
5 Feb 2022, 10:12am
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Single front chainset
Replies: 65
Views: 3915

Re: Single front chainset

Eagle mechs have a clutch and shift really well in my experience. The best of any system I have used once I got used to the different feel to SRAM shifters. Shimano ones I have used have been 10 speed but shift fine too. I don’t think the clutch is an issue in use at all. Whether it wears faster than the rest of the mech remains to be seen.
by hamish
4 Feb 2022, 12:01am
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Single front chainset
Replies: 65
Views: 3915

Re: Single front chainset

Yes, I think longer chain stays will help and my ECR has fairly long stays. Another thing that determines how well it works may be the type of crankset and chainring. The Eagle crankset sets the right chainline and the chainring has a particular tooth width and profile.

I don’t really like buying into the whole ‘it works as a system’ thing… but it I guess there may be some truth in it.
by hamish
3 Feb 2022, 9:22pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Single front chainset
Replies: 65
Views: 3915

Re: Single front chainset

tenbikes wrote: ↑3 Feb 2022, 2:20pm
I don't understand the chain line issue with 1x.

On a triple , when using the middle ring, I happily use all the cassette.

When I set up 1x (I have four bikes with this) I set the chain ring in the same position as the middle of a triple....job done. ( I have two triples and a double, along with the four singles and shifting is pretty much the same for all).
Yes, that's the same on all of my triples: if I'm being lazy, I'll use all the cogs on the rear cassette, whilst staying on the middle chainring up front, and this doesn't cause the problem I mentioned upthread, i.e. up-shifting when back-pedalling. So maybe the up-shifting issue on my 1x might be to do with the ridiculous 10-52 cassette rather than the 1x itself? I.e. the combination of the chain being pulled downwards (off the dinner-plate-sized cog) and to one side is what's making it move across the cogs?

However, even if you don't have a ridiculous 10-52 cassette and don't experience the up-shifting-when-back-pedalling issue, there may still be a chainline disadvantage of 1x. Good practice with triples is supposedly that you try and maintain as straight a chainline as possible - by shifting chainrings as you get to either end of your rear cog. And obviously, there's a good reason for wanting a straighter chainline, i.e. to minimise friction in the chain and between the chain and chainrings/sprockets. I certainly don't do this all the time, and literally never use the smallest chainring on my road triples, but I can understand the reasoning behind it.
I have an 11 to 50 cassettes. They work well and I don’t get the chain falling of when back pedaling thing. I agree you need to get the chain-line right though. I think that the 12 speed chains are also designed to handle the chain lines.

The cassette is wider than a 9 speed because the largest sprockets cantilever out over the flange on the inside so chain line may be more extreme with a 12 speed cassette.

I am prepared to fall out of love with the system but the more I ride it the more I like it. Changing is the best of any derailleur set up I have had and if feels efficient and there is no chain slap.
by hamish
1 Feb 2022, 9:59pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Single front chainset
Replies: 65
Views: 3915

Re: Single front chainset

I have two bikes with SRAM Eagle setups. One is my rigid mountain bike and the other my Surly ECR off-road touring (aka bikepacking) bike.

I went 1x with something between skepticism and indifference.

All I can say is that it works really well. I have the low gear I need for loaded steep climbs off road in Wales and my highest gear is just high enough (I have 11 teeth smallest sprocket as I didn’t want to fork out for a new free hub to get a 1 tooth advantage). I don’t find the chain line to be much of a problem in use and I can backpedal without it changing down. I like the linear nature of gear changes and the clean look up front. 12 speed chains are pretty durable too as that is where the manufacturers seem to putting their effort and quality.

So… I like it.

I understand the arguments against 1x and I may get fed up of it if it starts misbehaving… but so far so good.
by hamish
8 Oct 2021, 11:59pm
Forum: Electrically assisted pedal cycles
Topic: Bosch Battery Capacity improving (range indicated)
Replies: 14
Views: 1453

Re: Bosch Battery Capacity improving (range indicated)

saudidave wrote: 2 Oct 2021, 1:31pm I think I may have come up with some sort of answer to this riddle.
The route I'm doing of late is predominantly flat with gentle undulation and only two relatively steep climbs, both of which are traversing rivers, so the climb is preceded by a descent of a similar nature to the subsequent climb, thus I have considerable momentum at the start of those climbs. My theory is that possibly, when I'm in tour I very quickly accelerate beyond 16m.p.h. and then maintain 16 m.p.h+ using my own energy and no battery. When in eco I don't accelerate as fast and thus use more battery energy in the long run, than a short burst to get me beyond the point that the assistance stops. That would also have an effect on the calculated range that the bikes computer comes up with when fully charged.

As a point of interest, I never use sport or turbo generally, particularly turbo as I perceive no more additional help than I get in sport. The only time I've ever used sport for a sustained period was climbing out of the Goyt valley and the battery drain was alarming!
I think that is at least part of the answer… I have a Bosch powered cargo bike. I find that I tend to ride mostly around the cut off speed and that it doesn’t make much difference which mode I’m in as I’m mostly at the speed at which power assist is fading out.
by hamish
21 Sep 2021, 7:43pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: A sad,sad loss.
Replies: 15
Views: 2316

Re: Sad news

Iohan was incredible. He was gentle, humble, inspirational and amazingly tough and stoic.

I loved his videos and although I never met him I felt I knew him. I guess we all did to an extent… except for the fact he was obviously battling with things we didn’t see. So very very sad.